Nine preachers were arrested Saturday after police said they yelled anti-gay slurs over bullhorns during a demonstration at Southern Decadence, an annual celebration of gay culture in the French Quarter. Patrick O'Connell, 45, Rolando Igleasias, 31, Cesar Chavez, 22, Daniel Hoogerhuis, 26, Danny Guevera, 20, Larry Craft, 52, Montes Diego, 32 and Gary Brown, 33 were arrested on suspicion of aggressive solicitation, a city law passed last October.

The ordinance prohibits "any person or group of persons to loiter or congregate on Bourbon Street for the purpose of disseminating any social, political or religious message between the hours of sunset and sunrise." Another man, Justin Craft, 31, was arrested on suspicion of battery, resisting an officer and interfering with a law enforcement investigation. Craft allegedly punched an officer when he attempted to confiscate his bullhorn. Witnesses said the incident occurred around 8:30 p.m. outside Tropical Isle.

New Orleans police spokesman Frank Robertson said the men were previously warned not to use bullhorns, but did not comply. Casey Kolosky, a bouncer at Tropical Isle, said the preachers were making slurs against gays and also mentioned Hurricane Katrina victims.

French Quarter activist Leo Watermeier, who has long opposed the vitriolic demonstrations by religious fundamentalists at Decadence, took pictures of the incident outside of Tropical Isle. Some of the preachers carried signs tagged with officialstreetpreachers.com, but police said they did not know the exact organization the men represented.

The Vieux Carre Assembly of God Church in the French Quarter usually allows the preachers to use the church as a base where they can get water and rest, said Pastor Paul Gros, who said he believes the city ordinance violates their free speech rights. "I'm not saying I approve of everything they say and do," Gros said.

Watermeier said he supports the preachers' free speech rights, but "this seems a genuine effort by NOPD to respect the preachers' right to free speech while recognizing others' right to be free from unreasonable harassment."